Grim Hollow?

[Sparky McDibben]

Hey, so I'm a sucker for dark fantasy, and I found out about this Grim Hollow thing. Anybody got any reviews, tips, advice? Thanks!

[Corsair14]

Its a pretty interesting campaign world. The best part to me is the background section which I will be using in my next campaign. So much more involved than the PHB backgrounds especially if you intend on staying in one area for any length of time. I am not so much into the transformations section although since my next campaign is going to be Ravenloft I might find some use for it if the players choose to go to the dark side.

[Sparky McDibben]

Its a pretty interesting campaign world. The best part to me is the background section which I will be using in my next campaign. So much more involved than the PHB backgrounds especially if you intend on staying in one area for any length of time. I am not so much into the transformations section although since my next campaign is going to be Ravenloft I might find some use for it if the players choose to go to the dark side.

Yeah, the transformations was something I was curious about - are they relatively balanced? Am I going to have to let all my players get one of these?

[Sigreid]

If they had it for Fantasy Grounds I would buy it. Since that's where I play there's not much sense in my buying the hard cover.

[Corsair14]

I would prefer it in hardcover. I hate having to move my laptops around and having to look for things electronically.

I haven't really looked at transformations too much to be able to tell you about them. I wasn't that interested in that part actually although there is a substantial section dedicated to them.

[Sigreid]

I would prefer it in hardcover. I hate having to move my laptops around and having to look for things electronically.

I haven't really looked at transformations too much to be able to tell you about them. I wasn't that interested in that part actually although there is a substantial section dedicated to them.

Oh, if it were available for Fantasy Grounds I would buy both that and the hard cover. It looks really interesting, but if it can't be used in the game I'm playing it's got limited value.

[Sparky McDibben]

OK, so I wound up picking it up.

My thoughts:

From a player-facing side, it's not bad. They tie in backgrounds in a more in-depth way than I've seen anywhere else except maybe Ravnica. There are some new feats, a few new spells, and a few interesting sub-systems. One is cursing, a slew of dope curses that literally turn your target into a monster. They're gated by "shadowsteel," a McGuffin that basically acts as a limiting agent. Personally, I'd want to remove the limiter entirely and have pronouncing a curse require something from the caster, like permanently losing a Hit Die or something. As written, though, it's not bad. It just doesn't kick in until you get 4th-level spells. Another subsystem is the transformations. These are pretty interesting. If you want to turn into a fiend, this lets you do that. Even better, there are meaningful choices involved, so if everybody wants to turn into fiends, nobody's fiends are the same. They're powerful, but balanced by social pressures ("Holy ****! That guy's a demon / aberration / vampire!") and a very dangerous world.

From a DM perspective, it's very, very meh. Most of the book is taken up by a gazetteer of the world. It's well-written, and encompasses the central tensions in each area. Unfortunately, it reads like, "we ripped off Venice, right down to the gondolas and one guy's name being an anagram for 'Shylock.'" And it gives you just enough to start thinking on. It also has some interesting diseases and poisons, but not much else for the DM to play with.

Personally, I want random tables in the DM sections. Give me a "build your own adventure" section. Give me the Tome of Adventure Design for your world. Hell, I want random encounter tables for each geographical section, plus a list of adventure hooks. Hopefully, that's all forthcoming.

All-in-all, pretty OK. It's a decent effort, and it lays a foundation for these cats to build on.